"Now that the election has been decided, investors [are turning] their focus to the $607 billion of tax increases and federal spending cuts set to kick in automatically in January, the so-called fiscal cliff. The Congressional Budget Office has said the U.S. economy would slow by as much as 0.5 percent next year if Congress fails to keep the increases from taking effect."

The result: Stocks are down more than 2 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average is off more than 280 points in late-morning trading. It's feared the White House and Congress won't be able to avert a plunge over that fiscal cliff.

We'll keep an eye on the market and update this post later today.

Update at 4 p.m. ET. A Down Day:

As trading comes to a close for the day, indices are now down a little more than 2 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average is off just over 300 points.